Egyptian Cotton at one time was considered to be one of the finest overall cottons for Bed Linens in the world.
Things have changed in the last several years. Crop yields, crop quality and availability has greatly diminished.
Nonetheless, as with all things, there are various grades of Egyptian Cotton – so even if the label says Egyptian Cotton it could be made from a poor grade of Cotton.
Bed sheets can contain as little as 10% Egyptian Cotton (and be a poor grade) and still be labeled Egyptian Cotton.
- All cotton is graded by length and diameter of individual fibers (called staple). Egyptian Cotton comes in many grades.
- The finer grades of Cotton fiber are called ELS or extra long staple cotton.
- These fibers create a finer yarn yielding a softer, more lustrous fabric.
- It is the ideal material for Bed Linens and Duvet Covers because it is absorbent, cool, smooth and strong.
In this blog post we explain how cotton is sorted and processed.
In this video we explain why thread count is not that important and that it is more about the grade of cotton.
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